


Nighttime Reassurance

by thenakednymph



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Comfort, I hate nightmares like these, Lance (Voltron) Needs a Hug, Lance has a nightmare and needs to know Keith is okay, Let Them Hug, M/M, Nightmares, WTF, and may have just had one, apparently I have a think for nightmare fics, because it helps, check to see if the people in your nightmares are okay?, do any of you do this?, god I'm incapable of writing anything decent, klance, so thanks for the inspiration to finish this fic brain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-29 22:41:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16273844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenakednymph/pseuds/thenakednymph
Summary: Keith wakes up in the middle of the night to find a distressed Lance outside his door. Checking to make sure your friends are still alive in the middle of the night because you had a nightmare is probably a little weird but Keith rolls with it.~Lance has a nightmare Keith dies and freaks out. He really just needs a hug.





	Nighttime Reassurance

There are a series of light but insistent knocks on his door and Keith rolls out of bed.

He hits the panel with his hand, blinking sleep out of his eyes, adrenaline beginning to wake him. On the other side of the door stands a disheveled looking Lance. His eyes are wide and searching, glossy with tears and Keith hears his breath hitch as he opens the door.

“Lance?” His voice rasps with sleep and he rubs at his eyes, his heart tripping over.

Lance visibly sags at the sight of him, relief rolling off him in waves before he takes in Keith’s half asleep state and his face falls again.

“Shit, I woke you.” His voice sounds scratchy and raw, something harried still around his eyes he can’t quite hide. “I'm sorry, I-” He rubs a hand over his face, taking a deep breath that shakes when he does. “This was stupid,” he whispers, his voice weak.

Worry has Keith more alert in an instant and he snatches Lance's arm, afraid he’s going to walk away.

“What's going on?” His eyes scan Lance from head to foot, looking for an injury or an explanation for his sudden late night visit but finding none. He’s in his robe and sleep pants, barefoot and other than his wild hair and a lingering look of panic in his eyes he looks perfectly normal. Keith doesn’t know what could have been so wrong for Lance to come knocking at his door in the middle of the night.

Lance shakes his head but doesn’t try to step out of Keith's grip. He almost seems more grounded under the touch, his breathing stabilizing and Keith starts rubbing soothing circles into Lance’s arm with a thumb.

“Nothing…” he says, and Keith drops his hand, but Lance’s eyes are still searching, looking Keith over the same way, lingering on his chest and hands. “I just-” His eyes snap back to Keith’s and he chews on his lip. “You're okay right?”

Keith leans against the frame of the door, a wry smile pulling at his mouth. “You wake me up in the middle of the night to ask if I'm okay?” he teases but Lance doesn't smile, his eyes just continue to search Keith’s like he desperately needs an answer.

Keith straightens, worry beginning to gnaw at his stomach. “Okay, seriously, now I'm worried.” He crossed his arms, a crease forming between his eyebrows, one Lance reaches up to try and smooth away. Keith freezes, too startled by the attention to pull away.

“Bad dream,” Lance said softly, thumb still stroking gently over Keith's forehead, as if afraid the crease will return. He stares at the point of contact between them as if it holds the answers to the universe and Keith doesn’t know what to do. “Needed to make sure you were still alive is all.” He pulls his hand away and Keith is flushed.

“Oh.” His heart hammers against his chest, the moment feeling more intimate than he’d expected.

“Told you it was stupid,” Lance says, a smile finally pulling at his mouth as his eyes dart down to meet Keith’s. His fingers brush against Keith's hair for a moment before he finally pulls his hand back.

Keith's face is warm. “'s not stupid,” he mutters. A weight settles in his stomach as he remembers his own nightmares and how bad they'd been when Shiro didn't come back from Kerberos. He hadn't had anyone around to reassure him that Shiro was still alive, that he was okay.

Lance smiles like he knows Keith is lying. He turns to walk away, clutching at his arms and Keith gathers his courage.

“It's not,” he says, voice firm and that stops Lance. “I don't know what you saw but I want to help.” He wants to tell him he knows what it's like, to wake up crying and terrified, the fear gripping you, making you irrational, body somehow flushed both too hot and too cold, jumping at every shadow, afraid the people you care about are dead.

He'd had the same nightmares on the ship too. “I wish I'd thought of that.” He flushes again, shifting nervously under Lance’s scrutiny.

“Checking I mean,” he reiterates, “...to make sure they're okay.” He grits his teeth and makes himself look up. “So if I can help get rid of that? I want to.” He takes a half step into the hall towards Lance, setting his jaw, voice determined but sincere. “What do you need?”

Something in the way he says it makes Lance's stomach turn over. No one's ever asked him that before.

His eyes dart down to Keith's hands, remembering how badly they'd been burned, remembers the pain and his breath trembles.

Keith's eyes track the movement and he reaches for Lance.

Lance catches his hands part way there, cradling them in his own and Keith hears the way his breath catches.

His thumbs stroke over Keith's palms, tracing them, looking for any sign of the burns he so vividly remembers.

He turns their hands over, examining them, his long fingers running patterns over Keith's skin in a way that makes him shiver. Relief leaves him weak and his hands tremble around Keith’s. He feels like crying again.

His eyes trail up and over Keith's arms looking for the broken bones he remembers, the jagged wounds and when he shivers again Keith feels it.

“What was it about?” Keith whispers as Lance’s fingers ghost up and over Keith’s skin and Lance’s eyes dart to his.

He flushes like he’s afraid to tell him. “Zombies?” He says it like he expects Keith to laugh. When he doesn’t Lance finds the courage to elaborate, shrugging one shoulder, his hands still stroking along Keith’s arms. “I don’t know, some kind of apocalypse dream; I get those a lot, everybody I love dying.” There’s a furrow between his brows and Keith wants to reach up and smooth it away the same way Lance did to him, but Lance is holding his hands again and he doesn’t want to pull away.

Lance swallows, his voice dropping. “I did something stupid and you got bitten saving my life.” His eyes flick up to Keith’s chest and the juncture between his neck and shoulder. He shivers at the memory of the dream, goosebumps rippling up his arms, still seeing the blood and hearing the way Keith had screamed. He presses his eyes shut trying to block it out, his grip on Keith’s hands tightening reflexively.

Keith takes Lance's hand and presses it down against the spot, holding it there.

“I'm alright,” he whispers and Lance nods, staring down at their hands, at the wound that isn’t there. He swallows thickly but there are tears in his eyes. He’s heartsick and terrified.

“I’m sorry.” Keith pulls him into a hug before he can second guess himself and Lance curls into him, his body shuddering around a sob. He wraps his arms tightly around Keith’s waist, holding him tightly, pressing his eyes shut and hiding.

“I screwed up and you got hurt.”

Keith tucks Lance against him. “I’m alright.”

Lance draws a jagged breath, mouth wet against Keith's shoulder. “God, I watched you _die_ ,” he gasps. His fingers curl in Keith's shirt against his back, the grip almost painful as he holds him close and Keith’s heart gives a painful lurch.

Keith holds him tighter, shifting them slightly so Lance fits better in his arms, trying to chase away the tension coiled so tightly around him with his hands. Lance feels so much smaller than he is and Keith tucks his chin over Lance's shoulder wishing he could fight away the lingering fear, could do anything to make Lance feel better.

“I watched you die,” Lance echoes again, voice small and Keith tips his head against Lance's.

“I don't know how to help you,” he murmurs, heart aching. “But I'm here. I'm alright.”

Lance nods, stuttering out a breath. “You’re already doing it,” he mutters. “Helping I mean. Just-” He takes a deep breath like he’s getting ready to pull away and Keith doesn’t want him to. “I really needed a hug.”

Keith nods, still running a hand up and down Lance's back, feeling the knots of muscle beneath Lance’s robe.

The hug lasts long enough for parts of Keith to grumble in discomfort but he doesn't let go, not until Lance begins to pull away.

He drops his arms but doesn’t step back as Lance reaches up and wipes at his cheeks, looking bashful.

“Sorry I'm always such an ass.” He glances down the hall, unable to maintain eye contact. “You didn’t- you didn't have to do that.” He gestures vaguely into the space between them.

Keith smiles shyly. “I know.” He shrugs one shoulder. “But we're friends.”

Lance seems surprised and something in Keith hurts. He crosses his arms over his chest, trying to protect himself, beginning to scowl.

Lance nods slowly as if thinking something over. “Yeah, we are, aren't we.” It doesn't sound like a question and Keith feels that hurt begins to soften a little.

“You're hard to read you know?” Lance says and the subject change is so abrupt it startles a laugh from Keith.

He sags into the doorway. “Yeah,” he admits, toeing at the floor. “Years of practice.”

Lance chews on the inside of his cheek for a moment, thinking something over. “I want to get better.”

Keith blinks at him in surprise, not sure he’s understanding. “At what?”

“Reading you.” Lance shrugs awkwardly like he hadn't meant to start this thread of conversation. “I think you're worth knowing.” This time they both flush.

“Well, you'd be the first.” Keith doesn't mean for it to come out sounding so self-deprecating and he winces.

“Hey.” Lance takes a half-step forward, ducking his head, trying to catch Keith's attention. There’s so little space between them already, Lance’s half-step has them standing almost chest to chest.

His finger brushes the back of Keith's hand and he speaks quietly but his voice is firm and sure. “You're worth knowing,” and it feels like a promise.


End file.
